The Best Less-Visited Places in South America

You may have noticed that we like to travel independently, we avoid organised tours as far as possible and we try to get off the beaten track where we can. So after the last couple of posts covering various highlights of South America, Kev suggested I devote a post to some of the lesser visited places that we went to. These are places that are often a little more of a challenge to get to, but as far as we're concerned, worth the effort. They're places where you really feel that you've found somewhere unique - more special because the crowds haven't made it there yet.

I've ruthlessly cut my original shortlist down to 15, which was a hard task. A few of these appear on our list of highlights from two posts ago - which to my mind only reinforces how much we liked them! Several are also UNESCO World Heritage sites. Our mission to see as many of the UNESCO-listed sites in each country actually meant we saw a lot of places we'd never have known about otherwise. We'd recommend doing the same - anything on the UNESCO list is pretty much guaranteed to be worth visiting, and the website is a great resource for more info on anywhere on the list.

1. Cueva de las Manos, Southern Argentina

13 000 year old cave paintings, anyone? And the whole area around the cave is absolutely stunning scenery wise too.We did have to do a tour to get here, and in fact it was that ill-fated tour where we got all our belongings soaked in petrol.... but it was still worth it to see this incredible place. Just never use Zoyen Turismo! Cueva de las Manos is located a couple of hours away from Perito Moreno (the town, not the glacier), along RN 40 in Patagonia. There's nothing much to do in Perito Moreno itself, but a night here with a day trip to the cave is a great way to break up the journey between Bariloche and El Chaltén.

Handprints that are thousands of years old, at Cueva de las Manos

2. Isla Navarino, Southern Chile

In the competition to be the world's most southern town. there is only one real winner - Puerto Williams, a tiny Chilean town across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia in Argentina. We were lucky to be able to get here at all as the boats across from Ushuaia stop running for the colder months of the year. We loved Isla Navarino - truly the end of the world, much of it still untouched wilderness and so beautiful.

At the top of Cerro Bandera, looking out on the Beagle Channel, Isla Navarino

3. Day Hikes in Chile - Conguillío National Park and Altos de Lircay National Reserve

Everyone's heard of Torres del Paine National Park. But what about these two? In fact, in our opinion, the whole area from Santiago down south to Patagonia is one of the most spectacular parts of the country. The day hikes we did in these two national parks were among our favourite of the whole trip. Lakes, (active) volcanoes, snow-capped mountain ranges, monkey puzzle trees... just ridiculously beautiful. And, unlike Torres del Paine, we had both of them virtually to ourselves, plus the entrance fees are negligible. Curacautín is the best town in which to base yourself for Conguillío; Talca is the best for Altos de Lircay.

Conguillío National Park

Vuew from El Enladrillado  plateau, Altos de Lircay National Reserve

4. Humberstone and Santa Laura, Northern Chile

These ghost mining towns, active from the 1880s to the 1960s, were important nitrate producers for many years. They are totally abandoned but have been left pretty much as they were. It's a surreal, slightly spooky but very interesting experience wandering around the arid landscape seeing all the old machinery and buildings. We hired a car for a day in Iquique to come here - that's pretty much the only way to do it unless you want to take a tour!

The long abandoned, empty swimming pool at Humberstone

5. Tiwanaku, Bolivia

Absolutely spectacular religious site built by the Tiwanaku empire, one of the most important pre-Inca civilisations. It's easily visitable from La Paz in a day - there are regular minibuses which only take an hour or two. As well as the remains of the buildings themselves (some impressive temple pyramids), the on-site Stone Museum showcases some incredible finds, including some massive carved monoliths.

One of the monoliths at Tiwanaku

6. Jesuit Missions, Bolivia

This circuit of several UNESCO-listed (obviously) Jesuit mission churches in eastern Bolivia was probably one of the most challenging weeks of independent travel that we did. The missions are in remote, dusty villages, with infrequent and unreliable buses and little tourist infrastructure. We stayed in some of the worst hotels of the trip, ate some very local food, got stranded in the middle of nowhere, endured long, hot, bumpy bus rides and had to hitch a lift in a truck when one bus broke down.... But it was an adventure! While the mission churches themselves were lovely, what really made this special was the whole experience -  meeting friendly locals, riding in buses packed with people (and chickens / goats), seeing Bolivian rural life and getting an idea of what it is like for people living out in the countryside. Oh and we also saved a ton of money compared with a tour!

The Jesuit church in San Miguel de Velasco

7. Archaeological Sites in Peru 

We've always said that Chile was our favourite country overall in South America. However, for history, there's no doubt that Perú wins out. There's the obvious - the breathtaking Macchu Picchu - but there are also countless other Inca and pre-Inca sites all over the country, many in unbelievably good condition. To mention just a few:

• Choquequirao, near(ish) Cusco - spectacular Inca complex that's comparable in size with Macchu Picchu, but gets about 20 visitors a day instead of 2000. It's a 2 day hike from the nearest road - we visited as part of our long trek to Macchu Picchu.

In a niche at the Inca ruins at Choquequirao

• Chavin de Huantar, near Huaraz - temple site built by the Chavín culture between 1200 and 500 BC. Underground passages, original carved stone columns and even an early sound amplification system!

Underground galleries at Chavín de Huantar

• Caral, near Barranca - the oldest known civilisation in the Americas,with remains of pyramids and other buildings that are 5000 years old! Unbelievable. 

Ruined pyramids at Caral

• Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, near Trujillo - excavations are still ongoing at these enormous pyramids built by the Moche culture (around 100 -800 AD). The wall paintings still being uncovered are amazingly detailed and retain their original bright colours.

Part of the intricate paintings at the Huaca de la Luna

8. Las Lajas, Colombia

Crossing the border from Ecuador into Colombia, we made a slight detour to go to Las Lajas, a small village near the border town of Ipiales. The reason? A Gothic-style basilica church built right across a canyon. Colombians come here on pilgrimage from all over the country and all the stalls full of religious souvenirs and paraphernalia are part of the experience. At night, it is lit up in garish colours! You only need to take an hour or two to visit here en route to somewhere else, and it's well worth the effort.

Las Lajas Sanctuary

9. Tierradentro, Colombia

A few hours away from the city of Popayán lies the tiny village of San Andrés de Pisambala and the impressive tombs of Tierradentro. You climb down steep stairs to enter these elaborate underground chambers dating from the 6th - 10th century AD. Many have faces and geometric designs painted or carved into the walls. We also visited San Agustín, famous for its megalithic statues. Both Tierradentro and San Agustín are world heritage sites.

 A tomb with decorated walls in Tierradentro

10. Kaieteur Falls, Guyana

To be honest, just going to Guyana at all is enough to fulfil the criteria of 'less visited'! Like all of the 3 little countries at the top of the continent, Guyana is a totally different experience to the rest of South America. For one, the national language is English! The Kaieteur Falls was the highlight of our few days in the country. This waterfall is a short flight from Georgetown in a tiny plane and the flight itself is unforgettable - an hour gazing down over pristine jungle. Kaieteur is the highest single drop waterfall in the world, and the best thing is that the only other people around will be anyone with whom you shared the plane. Awesome. NB it's not cheap though, and you do actually have to do this as a tour. We booked direct with the airline, Air Services Limited, which saved a bit of money on going with an agency.

Kaieteur Falls

11. French Guiana

French Guiana is another country, well, to be precise, province of France, which very few tourists visit. We found it an intriguing place - pretty much exactly like mainland France, but in the tropics! It was surreal crossing the border from Suriname and suddenly finding excellent roads, clean streets, tap water you could drink, Western style supermarkets and even proper French bakeries. There's also plenty to see, including the famous Iles du Salut (prison islands where Papillon among others was detained). French Guiana is extremely expensive, - by far the most expensive place in South America. But on the plus side, the French wine was super cheap, and the AirBnbs in which we stayed were great - far more affordable than hotels too.

One of the old prison buildings at the Iles du Salut

12. Hornocal, Northern Argentina

All of the region of northern Argentina around Salta and Jujuy is spectacular - mountains and landscapes of all the colours of the rainbow. It's some of the most dramatic scenery you will ever see. But our favourite of all was the Hornocal. It's a 2 hour drive up to well over 4000m above sea level. The suspense builds as you wind your way up and then finally you're met with a jaw-dropping view - a kaleidoscope of countless colours, in triangular shapes stretching all along the other side of the valley. Surely one of the wonders of the world. For some reason this has yet to make it into most guidebooks - go there before everyone else does!

The Serranía de Hornocal mountains

13. Ischigualasto Provincial Park, Central Argentina

This park is one of Argentina's richest areas of fossils - in fact, the earliest dinosaur fossils ever discovered were found here. These were from the Triassic period rather than the Jurassic. The scenery is also astonishing - a desert-like landscape with rocks sculpted into some bizarre shapes. It feels like being on an another planet! Getting here was a bit of a mission but we made it in the end, basing ourselves in the tiny town of San Agustín de Valle Fertil for a couple of days and getting a taxi to the park. It closes if there is a lot of rain, so go in the dry season. NB the little hotel in which we stayed in San Agustín was one of our favourites of the whole trip - highly recommended!

The Sphinx rock formation at Ischigualasto

14. Quebrada del Condorito National Park, Central Argentina

Yep, we've mentioned this a few times before! Seeing the gigantic condor, the iconic bird of South America, has to be high on the agenda of most visitors to the continent. The Colca Canyon in Perú is probably the most popular spot, but we preferred this national park in Argentina. Arriving early in the morning, we were lucky enough to see loads of condors, including two so close up we thought at first glance they were human figures! It's easily doable as a day trip from Córdoba.

A condor overhead, in Quebrada del Condorito National Park

15. Fray Bentos Meat Factory, Uruguay

As our blog post at the time put it, 'The only meat factory with UNESCO status'! I'm sure lots of you still buy, or at least remember, Fray Bentos meat pies. Well, in Uruguay you can visit the original factory, now derelict, and its attached museum. It's surprisingly fascinating, especially due to its links with the UK - after WWI it was bought by the English and renamed Anglo. The interesting history, the super knowledgeable and friendly guide and all the artefacts on display make it totally worth a visit - don't miss it if you're in Uruguay.

Old machinery at the Museum of the Industrial Revolution, Fray Bentos

That's it for now! Hopefully this will help any of you planning to travel to South America with some ideas and inspiration if you're looking to visit somewhere a bit different as well as the main tourist spots. Obviously there are plenty more places that could be added to this list - if you've travelled in South America and think there's somewhere awesome that we've missed, do get in touch or leave a comment!